Santino starts off by threatening JTG with slaps and the Cobra, backing him to the ropes a number of times. Santino with a drop toehold, then spins himself on JTG’s back. JTG gets frustrated and goes on the attack. Santino with a hip toss and a powerslam and readies the Cobra, but JTG gets to the corner, then ambushes Santino as he deals with the ref. JTG with his basic heel offense. Backbreaker gets JTG two. Scott Stanford makes a series of “JTG’s so fly…” and “JTG’s so cool…” jokes. The crowd rallies behind Santino, and he does some punches, the split, the hip toss, but whiffs on the Sailor Salute Headbutt. Santino with a stunner, then the Cobra is ready, it connects, and Santino gets the win. “Good night Irene” from Stanford.

WINNER: Santino Marella in 5:00. Basic match to get Santino some ring time and expose live crowds to JTG as a heel. JTG’s offense is so bland, though. It was refreshing to hear the announcers focus on this match, not the Raw drama from Monday night.

[ c – “The Reunion” ad ]

2 - ALEX RILEY vs. DREW MCINTYRE

Riley’s pop sounded fairly genuine, not sweetened like most on Superstars are. Last week, he seemed over with the crowd, too. The match started with a quick lock-up before McIntyre put Riley in the corner and celebrated. He backs off, then the two men chain wrestle, but Drew cheapshots Riley as the ref pulls them apart. Quick, hard-hitting, back and forth. Riley with Ten Punches in the corner, then some sort of move to drive Drew’s head into the match. Riley springboards over the top rope to Drew on the ground, but Drew shoves his face into the apron. Stanford throws to a commercial, which doesn’t happen.

[Q2] Back from the false break, Drew is in control. He does a neat suplex, almost an inside-out suplex. And then he slows it down with an armbar. The crowd gets behind Riley and Drew cuts off the comeback. Drew stays in control and the ref has to repeatedly warn him to listen to his instructions. Riley’s still wearing “VV” on his trunks, which stands for “Varsity Villain,” which was his NXT gimmick. I guess his new trunks were in the wash. Alex with a pair of clotheslines then an AA Spinebuster. Floating DDT from A-Ry for two. Stanford calls him a “Pu Pu Platter of talent.” I can’t make this stuff up. Drew with the sky-high spinebuster for two. Scott says that he is listed on a Chinese restaurant as “Sum Dumb Guy.” Alex tries a backslide, but Drew rolls through and transitions to the Future Shock DDT. Alex powers out and turns it into a Samoan Drop. Slick sequence. This somehow gets the win.

WINNER: Alex Riley in 10:00. Who wins with a Samoan Drop? Outside of that, this was a good match. Drew has improved so much since his debut, culminating with his outstanding Elimination Chamber role earlier this year, and Alex Riley is becoming a reliable wrestler. Both have a long future ahead of them, they both have mic skills and ring skills. Effective match to get them some time.

[ c – “The Ladder Match 2: Crash and Burn” DVD ad, WWEShop.com ad ]

3 - EZEKIEL JACKSON vs. HEATH SLATER

Jackson makes fun of Slater, then shushes him like he did to Jindal Mahal. Slater tries to attack him, but Jackson knocks him silly. Zeke with unimaginative power offense and the announcers try to give him a personality. Torture Rack, but Slater slips out. Another false commercial break, and Jackson is bulldozing Slater still. Slater finally gets some offense in and shows a lot of fire. Zeke throws him into the corner, but Slater catches him in the eye and hits a tornado DDT for two. Slater tries a rear chinlock. Jackson fights out but Slater connects with a low dropkick for two and another chinlock. Slater keeps him down after Jackson fights out, and goes for a third chinlock. Zeke stands up and backs into the turnbuckle to knock Slater off, then gets a big backbreaker. Zeke with the corner clothesline, then the torture rack for the tap out.

WINNER: Ezekiel Jackson in 5:00. How is Heath Slater a heel, when he’s almost always the smaller man in the ring, and he gets beat up for most of his matches? He’s more like the Little Engine that Couldn’t.

Final Reax: As usual, Superstars delivered some decent matches between people who really deserve a more prominent role on the roster. Luckily, wins and losses on Superstars don’t mean anything since so few people outside the arena see it that it is effectively a series of dark matches. Drew McIntyre and Alex Riley put on a notably good match, while JTG continues to not impress. Heath Slater is treading water as the heel version of Evan Bourne - a smaller person who sells well for a larger opponent, but someone the audience has been trained to boo even though he shows no personality.

He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)

REACHING 1 MILLION+ UNIQUE USERS PER MONTH
500 MILLION CLICKS & LISTENS PER YEAR
MILLIONS OF PWTORCH NEWSLETTERS SOLD

PWTorch offers a VIP membership for $10 a month (or less with an annual sub). It includes nearly 25 years worth of archives from our coverage of pro wrestling dating back to PWTorch Newsletters from the late-'80s filled with insider secrets from every era that are available to VIPers in digital PDF format and Keller's radio show from the early 1990s.

Also, new exclusive top-shelf content every day including a new VIP-exclusive weekly 16 page digital magazine-style (PC and iPad compatible) PDF newsletter packed with exclusive articles and news.

The following features come with a VIP membership which tens of thousands of fans worldwide have enjoyed for many years...